Chapter 123: The Rescue

Without exaggeration, when Bian Chunzhou saw the three of them standing against the edge of the night sky, he almost wept right there on the sacrificial altar.

Just a little more, and he would have…

“Waaah, how did you guys find me? Ah, I can speak now!”

When the three arrived, they saw Bian Chunzhou being forced to marry a hunchbacked, gray-haired old woman amidst the rising flames. Chen Zui recognized Yuan Po standing nearby. Spotting the culprit, he threw his blade without a second thought, stopping the bizarre wedding ceremony at the critical moment.

Now, he leaped onto the sacrificial altar and pulled out the blade that had impaled Yuan Po. There was no fear of having killed someone on his face; instead, he looked slightly puzzled. “She’s not dead?”

Chen Zui was not a bloodthirsty man, so he simply kicked her off the altar. He did the same to the other old woman holding the wedding corsage next to her, sending her flying off the platform as well. It was clean and decisive.

“How long are you going to keep holding that?” Chen Zui asked, puzzled. “Didn’t you say this green outfit was ugly? Why did you put it on yourself?” Come to think of it, if he hadn’t recognized the outfit, they wouldn’t have arrived so quickly.

Ahhhhhh! Bian Chunzhou’s eyes trembled. He had forgotten he was wearing this ugly outfit. Wen Xuxu… Ah, Wen Xuxu couldn’t see. His lifelong reputation was barely one-third intact.

“I’m bound! I can’t move!”

Chen Zui reached out and gave him a push, but he couldn’t budge him. With his spiritual energy currently restricted, he looked up at Wen Xu. “You do it. I’m going to fight.”

The two of them immediately swapped positions with seamless fluidity.

As for Wen Xu, he had actually opened his eyes on the sly. Naturally, he also saw the eye-catching green outfit on Chunzhou. How should he put it? It was indeed quite ugly. Especially under the firelight, it looked somewhat like he had been splashed with some disgusting, sticky sap. “Your clothes…”

For a split second, Bian Chunzhou even suspected that the blindfolded Wen Xuxu could see him. But how was that possible? He had to be overthinking it. “Can you help me strip it off?” Wearing it for even one more second was pure torture!

Wen Xu was about to reach out, but he smiled in the next second. He drew his sword and rose, instantly unleashing the third form of the Nine-Turn Sword Art, Wind Rises, Clouds Surge, wrapping Bian Chunzhou in a gust of wind and sweeping him up.

The moment he was swept into the air by the wind, Bian Chunzhou realized he could move again.

So it wasn’t the clothes, but the spot on the sacrificial altar where he had been standing. The moment Bian Chunzhou was swept away, the villagers below grew even more frenzied.

“Ruining the ceremony is an unpardonable crime!”

“Kill! Kill them! Kill them all!”

There were at least two hundred villagers here. Strangely, apart from a scattered few men, the rest were all female. Furthermore, they were either underage girls or elderly women, showing a severe age gap.

“Go! Don’t stay and fight!”

Wen Xu shouted. To be precise, he was shouting specifically to Chen Zui. There were simply too many people. If there were only one or two cultivators close to the Golden Core stage, they could still handle it. But two hundred? That was suicidal. Moreover, although these people were of mortal flesh, they feared neither pain nor death, behaving just like raised Gu insects^[1].

This was bound to be related to the massive old tree before them. Earlier, the three of them had tracked their target to the outskirts of the village but couldn’t find a way in. Fortunately, at the critical moment, the Transmission Talisman Base Station in Chen Zui’s hand lit up. With the Base Station activated, the tracking function finally turned on, allowing them to successfully enter Xiaoshu Village. They had charged straight in, eventually arriving at this aerial altar situated within the giant tree.

Indeed, what looked like a wide, flat, man-made elevated platform was actually a terrace grown out of the giant tree itself. From this, one could imagine just how colossal this tree was.

In fact, the entire village was built upon this giant tree. What was exposed in the center was merely the tip of the iceberg.

Wen Xu was absolutely certain they had been climbing upward earlier, with no downward path at all. Thus, although they were currently standing on “solid ground,” what this ground actually consisted of remained to be seen.

Senior Sister Xiang He immediately supported Bian Chunzhou, and the four of them began a rapid retreat. But very quickly, Wen Xu realized something. “No, go back!”

If this entire area was indeed within the range of the giant tree, then those two hundred-odd villagers were only this powerful because they were absorbing the tree’s energy. But just now, the pursuers catching up to them were getting stronger and stronger. This only proved they were heading in the wrong direction!

Without wind, it was far too easy to lose one’s bearings.

Wen Xu had already noticed this back in the Back Mountain Secret Realm. He was trying hard to change his habits, but it had to be said that because wind was so convenient, he couldn’t break the habit in a short time.

“It’s too late.” Xiang He took a half-step back, her expression grim. “We’re surrounded.”

To the naked eye, Xiaoshu Village looked no different from an ordinary village. Every household had low houses, with vegetable patches, fences, and water wells in front of their doors. They didn’t raise any chickens or ducks, and the entire village had no flowing water, relying entirely on underground water wells to survive.

A thought flashed through Xiang He’s mind, but the fighting had already consumed most of her focus. She no longer had the energy to ponder the significance of these wells.

Wen Xu, on the other hand, was already considering whether he should call his master for help. After all, facing two hundred Golden Cores would be a grueling ordeal even for a Nascent Soul cultivator, let alone their group, where the highest-cultivated among them, Xiang He, was only at the late Foundation Establishment stage.

Even the battle maniac Chen Zui was panting heavily enough to be deafening.

Wen Xu had no desire to die here. Just as he was hesitating, he also noticed the water wells in the village. In fact, as the four of them fought and retreated, there was a well right behind them.

He leaned over to check. A rich moisture wafted up; the water was undoubtedly filled with abundant spiritual energy.

If this place was indeed the canopy of the giant tree, then what these wells represented went without saying.

They were bound to be the meridians and energy pathways that transported and supplied spiritual energy to the villagers.

Should he take a gamble?

Wen Xu thought about it and decided it was worth a shot. He immediately explained his hypothesis briefly. “Should we try jumping into the well to escape?”

So that’s how it is, Xiang He thought. She was just about to agree when she saw the battle maniac and Junior Brother Chunzhou dive right in without a second thought. Hey, could you guys be any more reckless? Jumping down there might very well be a one-way trip to death!

For the first time, she clearly realized how tacit the understanding was among these three. She even felt that if she hadn’t been present, the Little Grand-Uncle Master might not have bothered to explain at all, and would have simply said, “Let’s jump into the well.”

But despite her thoughts, Xiang He moved quickly. The four of them jumped into the well one right after the other.

With a loud splash, all four of them plunged into the well. Of course, before they hit the water, Xiang He pulled out a water-repelling magic treasure to shield them all.

The well was incredibly deep, and the light inside was dim. Xiang He struggled to turn herself around. After confirming there were no pursuers behind them, she relaxed slightly. Those people hadn’t jumped in after them.

She panted heavily. After catching her breath a bit, she took out a Qi Gathering Pill and swallowed it. “Could this really be the meridians inside the old tree?”

The walls of the well were covered in lush green moss, looking as if they were wearing a fuzzy coat. Speaking of clothes, Bian Chunzhou was currently struggling with the ugly, poop-green outfit on his body. After trying to take it off for ages, he finally tore it open and wriggled out.

Heavens, he had actually run around in it for so long again!

“Junior Brother, I’m sorry. Your Senior Sister dragged you into this.” If she hadn’t boasted so grandly, they would still be on Yonglu Mountain tonight.

Bian Chunzhou shook his head immediately. “No, not at all. My own curiosity was too strong. If anything, I’m the one who dragged you down, Senior Sister.”

Xiang He glanced at the tattered, ugly clothes nearby. She thought to herself that it wasn’t quite like that. After all, she hadn’t been forced to wear those clothes and get married to anyone. Junior Brother Bian was still the one who had made the greater sacrifice.

Bian Chunzhou was speechless. He silently conjured a flame to burn the ugly dress and rags.

“Why are you still playing with fire at a time like this?” Chen Zui’s recovery speed had always been astonishing. Just moments ago, he had been weakened from a bloody battle, but in the short time they had been sinking, he had already regained his full energy. “What do we do now? Just keep sinking like this?”

Chen Zui showed no intention of waiting for the sect’s rescue, or perhaps the thought hadn’t even crossed his mind.

“Wait.”

“Wait for what?”

“Wait for someone to fish us out.” It really had become a literal fishing job now. Wen Xu looked down into the bottomless well. “Perhaps when we reach the bottom, a turning point will appear.”

Xiang He was amazed by how calm the three of them were. Even Golden Core seniors who had gone out for trials wouldn’t be this composed in the face of danger. “Aren’t you… afraid?”

“Well,” Bian Chunzhou scratched his temple, “maybe it’s because… we have pretty bad luck.”

Because of their bad luck, they always encountered these strange things whenever they went out. From their very first sect mission until now, it had been one disaster after another. Having survived several near-death experiences, if nothing else, his mental state was indeed very stable now.

Truth be told, he felt a bit ashamed. He had only saved Wen Xuxu once, but Wen Xuxu had fished him out of trouble so many times. He was definitely coming out ahead.

As a disciple of Kaiyuan Peak, Xiang He had naturally heard some rumors about the Little Grand-Uncle Master and his two companions. She thought to herself that their luck was indeed terrible. Come to think of it, even though she was already in the late stage of Foundation Establishment, she hadn’t had nearly as rich a cultivation experience as these three.

There was indeed a reason why the Little Grand-Uncle Master had been able to succeed in Foundation Establishment so quickly.

“Look, we’ve reached the bottom! There seems to be something there! Ah, so many bones, and they’re shrouded in black energy!”

At the same time, the rescue party from Yonglu Mountain had arrived. The elder leading them was someone Wen Xu and the other two knew very well: Elder Zhao Qi of the Discipline Hall.

Zhao Qi hadn’t planned on coming personally, but when he heard it was the Little Grand-Uncle Master and his group calling for help again, he immediately gathered his men and rushed to the Tenfold Mountains. Following the sect markers left along the way, they arrived at the final marked location.

As a Nascent Soul True Monarch, Zhao Qi’s experience was naturally far beyond that of Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining disciples. However, the location of Xiaoshu Village was hidden in an incredibly tricky and cunning manner. If he hadn’t been skilled in formations, it probably would have taken him quite a while to find it.

But when he led the reinforcements into Xiaoshu Village and saw two hundred “Golden Cores” clawing at the water well, how should he put it… Zhao Qi felt completely numb.

Such an evil place had actually existed right under Yonglu Mountain’s nose for so long! It was his dereliction of duty. He would write a self-reflection report as soon as he returned!